Instruments and Equipment

One opportunity I looked forward to when planning my visit to ITEC 2019 was seeing and playing the new Wessex EP600. This is their new, handmade model. My understanding is that the horn is made on a different floor of the Chinese factory, and that the workers building it are trained specifically for this type of work.

As I have often said, patience is a virtue. It proved an asset at ITEC because the EP600 was delayed by a day or two. But I was able to get some time with it the day it ...

NOTE: Comments from Wisemann appear at the bottom of this review.

NOTE 2: Fletcher Mitchell, a euphonium player, gave me permission to use photos from his Facebook page of his Wiseman case. These show much better detail than my original photos. They are at the end of this blog entry, after the comments from Wiseman.

The Wiseman case at ITEC2019 was impressive in many ways but seemed like a work in progress - although a promising work. The case ...

Like Walter Matthau in "A New Leaf," we know that valves can be a problem (note: there may be a short commercial at the beginning of the video).



In Walter's case the problem was with his Ferrari, which was constantly plagued with "carbon on the valves." In our case, as brass players, it is probably something else on the valves. In both cases, the valves don't like it!

There are several possible reason for sluggish ...

Here are three videos I did specifically to help people understand the differences within the euphonium family.

• The baritone demonstrated here is a Besson 955 3-valve compensating with a .515" bore.
• The double-bell euphonium is a Holton, and it demonstrates two things. First you can hear the contrast between the bells, which in this case is about the most simple example of using the horn. But the second concept is the sound of the large bell. This is just the same as the typical American

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People often ask how I make the YouTube videos of my playing. I have two methods, and choose which one depending on conditions.

The best results are with a quality stereo microphone, a digital recorder, and a digital camcorder. Here is equipment similar to what I use:

Audio-Technical Stereo Microphone



Zoom Audio Recorder, 4 Channel



Canon Camcorder

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Ever since I switched to Adams in 2012, I have answered many, many questions from other players regarding the choices among all the Adams options as well as customization. Finally it seemed like time to create a video where I can express these out loud instead of in print on my forum, other forums, or Facebook. The video doesn't cover everything, but I think it gives a good overview.

Within the video description are links to my article about the Adams Adjustable Gap Receiver, the Adams ...

I suspect most euphonium players have never worried about the gap between the end of the mouthpiece shank and the beginning of the instrument's leadpipe. To understand the terminology, the receiver is the two or three inches of tubing attached to the end of the leadpipe. The mouthpiece inserts into the receiver. The gap is hidden underneath the receiver. The drawing below shows this:





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